Virginia GOP to Nominate Mark Warner Challenger via Convention

Virginia Republicans voted on May 17 to hold a nominating convention next year — rather than a primary — to select a challenger to Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, the Virginian-Pilot reported.

The move, which came at the state party’s annual convention in Richmond, could affect the GOP field that vies for the nomination. Conventions, where only party activists vote, often nominate more conservative candidates than the broader GOP primary electorate.

Meanwhile, with the focus on the gubernatorial race, there has been little chatter about any candidates laying the groundwork to take on Warner. The former governor remains the most popular politician in the state. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found Warner with a 59 percent job approval rating.

Over the weekend, the party chose three conservative candidates — Ken Cuccinelli for governor, E.W. Jackson for lieutenant governor and Mark Obenshain for attorney general — to run for the three state offices up in November. Cuccinelli faces former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe in a race that recent polling has shown to be close.

For the 2014 Senate race, the GOP state central committee can still reverse course later this year and opt to hold a primary.

I live in Virginia and would actually prefer a primary–if we had party registration, so that only registered Republicans (maybe independents) could vote in it. As it is, anyone can vote in either primary which allows members of one party to vote in the other’s primary for the weakest candidate.

http://www.facebook.com/jackson.euler.1 Jackson Euler

The GOP is going whole-hog cra-cra crazy nominating such far-right conservatives. Warner will win by such a large margin, and the Clintons will have alot invested in having a Dem. as governor of VA that they will work their tales off and deliver boats of money that in the end, McAuliffe beats Cuccinelli by 3-5%.

http://www.facebook.com/abramson.mark Mark A Abramson

This is a red herring. Missouri, Indiana, Nevada, and Delaware all had primaries in recent years that resulted in Akin, Mourdock, Angle, and O’Donnell, all of whom were pretty lousy candidates in very winnable races. It’s not going to matter anyway, since Warner is in no danger of losing re-election.

INTJ

It may be opposite day. In this case, Republicans may be trying to take their primaries away from the Tea Party, which may result in a more “mainstream” Republican candidate than the primary would produce.